A friend returned from Ireland with a lovely CD by whistler/flutist/singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh called Morning Star. Any ideas for where I can get ahold of this recording? (Also, how does one pronounce her name?)
Thanks for any help.
Micah
PS There’s a smoking clip of her playing Jean’s Reel on an O’Briain Improved on the Shanna Quay site http://www.shannaquay.com/generic.html?pid=1
Micah,
I suggest you try Shanna Quay, as even if Steve doesn’t have it in stock he would be in touch with Muireann through the Dingle Peninsula mafia of which Cillian O Briain is also a member.
It’s slightly spooky for me to see her name here as a recording artist, because I’ve known her mother since we were in our teens, several decades ago, and met Muireann herself and had a few sessions with herself and her dad when we visited the family in Dun Chaoin maybe five or six years ago and she was a teenager. Her dad plays fiddle, and gigs regularly in the Ballyferriter/Dun Chaoin Dingle area.
If you do get details of her album, perhaps you’d post them here, so that others could get copies. She’s a fine whistle and flute player, a rich-voiced singer of the Dolores Keane school and also a very talented graphic artist. I think she did the traditional music performance course in Limerick University recently.
By the way, her name is pronounced MWIR-ann nicOWleave, the ‘OW’ rhyming with ‘how’. Her surname is the Irish form of McAuliffe (which means son of Olaf, so it has ancient roots going back to the Norse settlements in Ireland).
(Bump!)
Did you have any success? A friend of mine is also looking for this album.
g
I’ve sent Steve O’Shannaquay an e-mail in case he isn’t lurking here these days.
I also listened to the clip of Muireann demonstrating the Cillian Ó Briain Improved, and I see an ethics issue. Particularly at this time of year, he should include a notice saying “Fingers not included” 
.
That clip was incredible! 
Fingers not included, indeed!!
I’d love to hear her singing, as I’m particularly fond of Dolores Keane and always on the lookout for new traditional vocalists to listen to. Please do post the CD info if someone finds it… or even if you stumble across a small clip of her singing! 
Best,
Andrea
Here’s a review which says that the album is self-published, which would explain why it’s not widely available:
http://www.greenmanreview.com/cd/cd_gaelic_omni_1_03.html
That page includes an e-mail address, so why doesn’t someone mail her and ask where the record can be bought (if I asked, it would look as if I was asking for a freebie!).
There’s a biographical note here: http://www.sessionsfromthehearth.com/main.php?page_id=6&article_id=41
I just found that, Roger, and was coming back to post it… 
You beat me to the punch.
Best,
Andrea
Edited to add: This doesn’t help in finding the Morning Star CD, but I discovered that she is the newest (and first female, I think) member of Danu. They have their CD Road Less Traveled available at Amazon.com, and there are a few sound clips. I got to her hear sing a bit of Co. Down-- her voice is wonderful as you said, Roger!
… and here’s a review that refers to her as “Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh from Danú”. http://archives.tcm.ie/thekingdom/2003/11/06/story11250.asp
I heard only last night that they now had a girl singer, so what’s the story, is she now a permanent fixture in the group?
Roger, we really should stop meeting like this… see my edited post above yours. 
It sounded to me as though she is a “permanent fixture”.
~Andrea
Another Edit To Add: Danu Band News ← click there
Well that settles that.
Only two days ago I got an invitation to a concert that they’re doing in Brussels in January to mark the start of the Irish Presidency of the EU. Little did I know that I knew one of the group- does that add a new category to Rumsfeldian epistemology, the “unknown knowns”?
Roger,
That would be a “forgotten-known-unknown-known” because you knew that you knew her, before she was her since you knew her mother before she was born. You then forgot that you knew her and now she has surfaced into your consciousness anew. :roll:
Mike
Perhaps I’d better make it clear straight away that I knew her mother only in the non-biblical sense .
Yes, with all this knowing going on that’s an important distinction to make. I just had a thought, can one unknow someone in the biblical sense?
Mike
You’re sure to find it here. Yep, Muireann rocks my face off.
Yep, there it was!
http://www.dinglerecordshop.com/dingle_recordshop_morningstar.html
You rock, Blayne!
Best,
Andrea
Awe shucks
I posted this in a separate thread and then realised it’s relevant to this discussion as well. There are three songs by Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh in this performance, plus an interview with her discussing her approach to music and her joining Danú:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/weekend/ceilihouse/
This is an informal concert/interview that, in my opinion, is great music and delightful banter. They’ve added a singer to the group, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, who does some beautiful work on the show. The session showcases music from Danú’s new album, “The Road Less Traveled.”
If you right click on the “listen online” link and use the “save target as” feature, you’ll download a little RealPlayer file that will still work so you can listen to the show after it’s been removed from the RTE Radio1 webpage as long as you don’t accidentally replace at a later time with a more recent file. They change them weekly.
And while your at it, there’s a similar setup on that website for another excellent show, “Late Session.”
Rats! I get a general error message when I try this from work (is some function deliberately disabled in-house?), and have insufferable delays and timeouts when I try to use my age-of-steam connection from home.
Would it be a blow-the-system-sized file if someone were to try to e-mail it to me?
Hi, Roger.
I can email you the little file that downloads when you right click the “listen” link and use “save target as.” That file isn’t the music itself, but some kind of RealPlayer link to the streaming media file on the Radio1 site. The file I’ll email is small. It might work for you if the problem is that your office setup won’t permit downloading of files. Anyway, it’s worth a try. I tried using the email for you on this board, but it comes up blank. Would you PM me your email address?
Best wishes,
Jerry
Jerry,
PM’d you just now, thanks.
R